A Mother's Love
by coralinefrozen
Summary: Sam and Lindsay's family just moved into their new home. With summer break just starting, they figure life was going to be very boring. That was until one of their stepfather's rages sent them through the little door in the wall. In that world, everything is perfect, but is it all too good to be true?
1. Moving in

**About a month ago, I decided to watch Coraline. I did not know what I was expecting, but I do know I was not expecting to fall in love with the movie like I did. Not too long after I watched the movie, I watched move theories on Coraline. Most of which is from _The Theorizer,_ and if you have not seen any of his theories you really should because they are awesome! They also inspired my fanfiction along with my nonstop thinking about Coraline. I do have the book of Coraline, but I have not found time do read it. Once I read it, I will probably put in a few things, but this story will most likely be based on the movie. Enjoy the first chapter! Rated T for abuse, so if you do not want to read it, it might be best to skip this story.  
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* * *

 _ **Chapter 1**_

Summer was a time when kids had no worries; school was out for three months, so they could do whatever they wanted during that time. Everyone loves summer! Most of the time, my brother and I did, but this summer had a different story. My mom's work decided to sent her all the way across the country, so not only the entire family has to move, but my brother and I get to spend "quality" time with our stepdad. The whole trip to our new home, my brother and I would write notes to one another, so we could have a conversation in private. He was the only person who knew what happen to me, and I was the only one who knew what happen to him.

I guess I better tell you my backstory. I'm Lindsay and I am sixteen years old. During my free time, I love to write. I will write anything, stories, poems, songs, anything you can think of to write, I love it. Writing is the only thing sometimes that can get me away from the bad thing. And no, I am not going to tell you the bad thing, you will find out soon enough. There is my baby brother, Samuel aka Sam for short. He is only eleven years old, and the right age to be annoying and always there for you at the same time. Samuel has artistic beyond anything I have ever seen. He loves to paint how he sees stuff from his point of view. We are both artistic, I am just better at expressing myself through words while Sam is better at expressing himself through drawings.

Next, we have our mom, Abby and our dad, Steve. Steve is our real dad, not the crappy stepdad we got now. Both our parents are loving and adventurous. They always pushed us to be our best, and we always try to be. One day, dad got hit by a drunk driver. He was in a coma for a week until mom decided to pull the plug. Ever since dad's death, mom has put most of her attention into her work. She works at a big company, and she now is the manger for their newest building in the middle of nowhere. What little attention mom had for anything other than work, went straight into dating. That is how we got, Aaron. Aaron watches over Sam and I while mom is busy at work.

"I hate how we had to move," Sam whispered to me during one of our many hours in the car.

 _Too make it worst, we will never get out of the house, not until school starts back up. That is in three_ _months!_ I wrote it on my notebook, and handed it to Sam. He nodded his head once he read it.

Finally, after traveling 2,892.3 miles or 44 hours, we finally made it to our new "home," the Pink Palace.

"We're living here?" Sam said.

"Of course we are," mom said. "It's perfect! Only five minutes from town, so I can hardly get into traffic going and coming into work." Mom and Aaron looked at one another , like their whole life was perfect now. I rolled my eyes then I got out of the van. Sam came right behind me as we look at our new home.

"Our part of the house is the ground floor," Aaron told us.

"You mean other people live here?" I asked him.

"Of course, did you honestly think that we owned the whole place?"

I just walked away because I knew he would call me an idiot. Aaron and mom brought all the furniture of the house down. They came down early to find a house, and get settle in. Sam and I didn't argue when they said they were going to do that. We wanted some alone time, without Aaron. All we had to do now was bring the boxes inside, which held everything we could not live without while my mom finished up some stuff at the office before the whole family moved here. While carrying the boxes inside, I tried to look for our neighbors, but I could not see anyone.

"Well, that is the last box," Aaron said putting the box down in the living room.

"Now that the van and trailer are both clear, I am going into town to check on the business," mom told Aaron.

"What?" I said coming down from the stairs. "You are leaving us on our first night in our new home."

"If you mean I am going to go work for money that pays for your food, clothes, and shelter, yes I am," mom put her attention back on Aaron. "I will be back late tonight. Don't wait up on me." Mom gave him a kiss, and she left the house. Samuel was already in the kitchen, so I went in there with him.

"You both can get started on unpacking these boxes," Aaron told us.

We both headed towards the living room, just trying to do what he told us.

"I already don't like it here," Sam whispered sadly to me. "Mom is already gone! We literally just got here!"

"She is starting a new business. I'm sure there are tons of stuff to get done! I'm sure she would rather stay here with us, but the office needs her more." I did not believe anything I had just said, but I hoped Sam did.

"I doubt it,"Sam replied. He went to put some pictures up on the fireplace mantel, when he stopped short. "Why is there a door covered in wallpaper?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked turning to see what he was looking at.

"There!" He said putting at the door. "See! I'm _**not**_ crazy!"

I walked over and put my hand over the door. "Get me something to cut the wallpaper. I want to open it!" Sam grabbed the scissors that we used to cut the tape on the box. Once I got the wallpaper removed, I tried to open the door. "It's locked!"

"But why is it here? What could be on the other?"

"A lot of dead bodies?" I joked.

"Do you really think so?" Sam said believing me.

"No," I said getting up. "This house is really old! Who knows why they put the door there. It looks like we will never find out why or what is on the other side." I just went back to unpacking, but I know Sam was trying to figure out why that door was there the rest of the time. Whenever Sam and I was ready to call it a day, we had all of downstairs unpacked, but we still had a little bit left of upstairs. By now, we were both hungry and ready for some dinner. "I can unpack them tomorrow or tonight." We just left the boxes where they were, and we hoped Aaron wouldn't see them. "How about you go downstairs and get us some dinner," I told Sam. As he ran downstairs, I went to both of our room, and I tried to imagine how to get the most out of the little space we had.

I was in such deep thought, I didn't hear when Sam enter the room until he spoke. "Lindsay, he's already drinking."

I tried not to seem scared, but I was. "Okay, stay here while I try to get us some dinner."

He nodded his head, and I slowly went downstairs. I acted like I need to throw away some trash. I grabbed some crackers and put them in my back pocket. I would get something bigger whenever Aaron passed out from drinking too much. "What are you doing?" Aaron asked blocking my way out of the kitchen. He took a sip of beer from the bottle he was holding.

"I was just throwing away some trash," I said trying to act like it was all I did.

"So what is in your back pocket then?"

"Nothing. I didn't take anything."

Aaron busted his beer bottle on the table from rage. "What did I tell you girl about lying!" With each word, he came closer to me.

"I...I didn't take anything! I swear!" I tried to back away from him, but I hit the back door. He pulled out the crackers where I hid them.

"What were these doing here?" he demanded.

"They were just going to be a snack! I promise!"

He slapped me across the face. "You know the rule, girl! No eating unless your mother is the room! She's not here now is she? Did your brother tell you to get these?"

"No!" I said trying to get Sam out of these. "I was just hungry. I came here to get something to eat. Sam doesn't know I am here."

"LIAR!" He yelled at me then he slapped my face. "Go to your room! You are grounded young lady. Just wait until your mother hears of this!"

I went up to my room, and Sam was looking at the stars when I came in. When he saw my face, he quickly came over to me. "He saw you," was all Sam said.

I nodded my head, "It's okay. It doesn't hurt too much."

"Yeah right," Sam said as we both sat together on my bed. He moved over into my arms, "I wish we never moved here. I wish our stepdad never came into our family!"


	2. The Doll

**Chapter 2**

I woke up with Sam still asleep in my arms. I slipped out of bed silently, so I wouldn't wake him. I already had my clothes that I picked out from yesterday on one of the boxes. I picked them up, and I went to the bathroom. After I changed, I went downstairs to eat some breakfast. I didn't try to cover up the bruise Aaron gave me last night, mom would not notice or say anything about it, so what was the point?

Mom was making breakfast when I walk downstairs. "Good morning, mom," I said getting the orange juice from the refrigerator.

"Aaron told me what happened last night," was the first thing mom said to me today, she had her back to me, cleaning the dishes she just used to make breakfast.

"Oh really?" I said. I knew he told her a lie, but if I told her the truth, she wouldn't believe me.

"Yes he did! How could you destroy the family picture? You know how much it meant to me!"

"I'm sorry mom," I just went into the dining room, where the rest of the food was waiting for us. I put some pancakes, eggs, and sausage on my plate. "But I was mad, and I needed a way to release my anger." I sat down at the dinner table to eat. "I promise I will try harder."

"You said that last time, and the time before that. I just don't know what has gotten into you." Mom just finished cleaning the last of the frying pans. She was just drying off the last pan.

Sam came bouncing his way downstairs. "Yum! Pancakes my favorite!" He quickly got a few on his plate.

One good thing about morning was Aaron started his job early in the morning, so that means when we got up, he wasn't here. He usually worked somewhere between seven in the morning to about four in the afternoon. It was just Sam and I, or if we were "lucky," mom would still be home. Another great thing was that Aaron worked with mom, so he already had a job that he started today!

"While Sam and I are in town, maybe you can think of a way to control your anger!" mom said sitting down at the head of the table.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "So now I am grounded." For something I didn't even do, I thought!

"Maybe next time, you will think about your actions!"

I just got up, "I'm full... I'm going upstairs to unpack, if I am still allowed to do that."

Mom said nothing as I walked into the kitchen. I threw away the food I didn't eat, and put my plate in the sink. I went into my room without a sound. I was too busy ranting in my mind to say anything. Whenever Aaron was gone, mom would always argue with me. It's funny! She can't notice a bruise on me, but she can notice that I can't stand him. She only sees what she wants to see. Just like she sees Aaron "love" us, but she can not see how he really is. If she did, she would have to leave him, but that would be too much work. Might as well, not even see the hate.

I felt sorry for my brother the most. All he ever wants is a normal family day. A day where we all get along, but I knew that day died when dad died. I was unpacking some of my clothes, when Sam entered the room. "Hey, I'm sorry that you're grounded."

"Oh it's fine. I always am," I told him. "I'm just sorry that we argued in front of you. I probably should have ended the conversation then."

"It's not your fault! You were just mad that you got in trouble for something Aaron did. I would have been too. If you don't want me to go, I wouldn't go today. I can help you finish unpacking."

"No, that's okay. Try to have fun today! Do you want to unpack your stuff or want me to do it?"

"I can do my stuff myself!" he said quickly. "You have too much stuff to do anyways."

"If I finish unpacking my stuff, I will go ahead and unpack yours? Does that sound alright?"

"That sounds good! Just put my stuff wherever I can find it all later! I better go, before mom gets mad." Sam gave me a quick hug. "I love you, Lindsay!"

"I love you too, Sam." He ran downstairs after that. I watch mom and him get into the van. Mom must have dropped Aaron off today at work because there was only one car right now. I watch them both disappear down the road on the way to town.

That morning, I spend most of the morning unpacking. I finished unpacking all of my stuff, then I moved on to Sam's. There was something in the box, I have never seen before. Carefully placed on top was a doll that looked exactly like Sam, but this doll had buttons for eyes. "Huh," I said picking up little Sam doll. "I've never seen you before." Right at that moment, someone rang our doorbell. "Coming!" I called putting the doll down. I ran downstairs to the front door. "Hello," I said opening the front door. I found an elderly lady, holding what looked like a pan of food. "Can I help you with something?"

"Hello," she said. "My name is Abigail Parkinson. I'm your neighbor from downstairs. I wanted to bring you this lasagna to make your family feel welcome to our little home."

"Thank you! I was just wondering what I was going to have for lunch. Do you want to come in and visit for a little bit?"

"Oh no, that's okay," she gave me the lasagna. "I don't want to keep you. You are probably still trying to unpack. I just wanted to bring that by, and tell you whenever you and your family are settle to stop by and visit me for a little while."

"Okay, I'm sure my family will do that," I knew mom and Aaron would be to busy to go, but Sam and I would. "I think it might take a couple more days for us to get all unpacked, but after we are all done, we would love to visit!"

"It sounds like a plan then," she about walked away when she stopped. "I forgot to get your name."

"Lindsay," I called. "Lindsay Gorman."

"It was nice to meet you to meet you, Lindsay."

"It was nice to meet you too, Abigail," I hollered after her as she left. I went inside to put the lasagna up in the kitchen. I really wanted a slice of it, but I wanted to wait for my brother. The little breakfast I had this morning, was already gone.

I was on my way upstairs, when I stopped at one of the family pictures. It was the one from mom and Aaron's wedding. The picture was taken right after the wedding, but before the reception. In the picture was mom, Aaron, Sam and I. That wasn't the thing that caught my eye. Where Aaron was suppose to be standing, there was a black spot over him. Aaron must have drew permanent marker over himself, so he was no longer in the picture. Just what I wanted him to be. "Yeah, I hate you in the picture too, Aaron," I said grabbing it from the wall. I decided to try to clean it. I couldn't possible make it worst. If my way didn't work, mom would have to buy a new frame anyways. I had to use mom's laptop to see a way to get permanent marker off furniture. The first thing that popped up was to use alcohol. We have so much alcohol, that I decided it would be the easiest since I would use so little, it wouldn't be missed.

I got half of the marker off when someone opened the front door. "Lindsay, I'm home," Sam called.

"In the kitchen," I hollered back. He brought a few bags in with him.

"Should you be using that?" he asked.

"Probably not, but I'm not using a lot, so it wouldn't be missed. How was town?"

"It's small, especially to New York."

"But the question is if it is better?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders while putting the bags on the table. "It's hard to tell from just one visit. Here, we do have the woods to explore. Where in New York, we really had nothing."

"That's true" I noticed mom wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where's mom at?"

"Work, she had a taxi drop me off."

"Anyways, are you hungry? Our downstairs neighbor dropped off a lasagna for us." I got up and helped him put up groceries.

"Sweet! I'm starving! I just have to put this in our room really fast," somehow Sam got mom to buy him a sketchbook.

"Well, hurry up! I have been waiting for you!" He was already on his way to our room, so I do not know if he heard me. I got two plates down, then I went back to putting up the groceries.

"Hey, Lindsay?" Sam asked to get my attention.

I turned around. "Yeah?" I asked.

"What's this?" he asked holding up the doll I found this morning.

"I guess it's a doll of you," I said.

"I know that! But where did it come from?"

"One of the boxes that held your stuff. I unpacked it this morning. You never seen it before?" He shook his head. "Maybe mom got it for you...I don't know. Come on, let's eat."

 **I finally got Chapter 2 up! Next week, I will more likely will not update the story because my school decides to plan everything on the same week. There is a chance it could be updated, but the chance is very slimmed. I would also like to thank Pkfreeze for being my first review, and let me tell you that this will be the first of many you will be saying that because I'm evil like that!**


	3. Welcome to the Other World

**I am sorry this chapter had a long wait from when I posted the second chapter! I wanted to thank everyone who followed and comment on this story! You guys are the best! This chapter is my favorite chapter to write so far, so I hope you enjoy!**

 _ **Chapter**_ **3**

"I just want to know who gave me the doll and how come the doll looks like me," Sam said when we were both ready for bed.

"I don't know. Did you ask mom? Maybe she has seen it before or at least knows who gave it to you."

"I showed her the doll, and she said she has never seen it before, and of course Aaron saw it, and he was like ,' _Oh, you still play with dolls?'"_

"I knew Aaron didn't get it for you."

"Someone had to get it for me. How else did it get here?"

"Have you thought that maybe, just maybe, you got the doll a long time ago, and you forgot about it? Maybe it was thrown in the box under all your other stuff, and you just never notice it until now?"

"I didn't throw most of my stuff in the box! Plus that was in a different box not that one!"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow. Maybe we can think of some reason in the morning after we get some rest." I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water before I went to sleep. Sam followed me while carrying around the doll. "Want anything?" I asked him.

"No, I'm-" Sam just got cut off.

"THOSE BRATS!" Aaron yelled from upstairs.

"Oh crap," I just remembered we never unpacked most of Aaron's stuff for his study room. Sam and I spend the rest of the day putting our room in order that we forgot to go back and actually finish unpacking the rest of Aaron's things.

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked.

"We'll hide," I said.

"But where?"

I heard Aaron open the door to our room. It wasn't hard to see we weren't in there, so it wouldn't be long until Aaron found us downstairs. I grabbed Sam by his arm, and I took him into the dinning room. I was about to go outside with Sam, but a noise from the living room stopped me. It sounded like a door opening, but there was no door in there. Curiosity got the best of me as I pulled Sam into the living room to find that little door opened. I let go of Sam, and he ran over to it.

"Come on! We can hide here! Aaron will never find us!" Sam said. Aaron was coming downstairs, probably cursing us under his breath, getting madder with every step.

"Go!" I practically pushed Sam into the little tunnel. I followed right behind him. The door closed behind us, like it wanted to hide us. The tunnel was so small that there wasn't enough room to sit down, so I caught our breath on my hands and knees. I didn't even realize I was holding my breath until we were safe in this tunnel. We stayed in silence, both of us too scared to say anything in the chance in might give away our hiding spot.

"WHEN I FIND THE BOTH OF YOU, YOU WILL BE SORRY!" Aaron yelled. There was a crash. It sounded like Aaron broke something. Something else to get blamed for. Sam went to the other side of the tunnel, to the door on the other side. I followed him, ready to get enough distance between us and Aaron.

"Is the coast clear?" _Please be outside or in a closet,_ I thought.

"I have no idea..."

"What do you mean you don't know? What room are we in? Can you hear Aaron around?"

"Maybe you should see for yourself." Sam crawled out, and I stayed close behind.

When I saw the room, I got why Sam was so confused, "What's going on?" I spoke more to myself than Sam. We came back into the living room. Everything was just as it was when we entered except their was no screaming Aaron anywhere. Nothing seemed broken either which didn't make sense because it sounded like Aaron just threw something. "Get back in the tunnel now," I told Sam. I didn't know what was going on, much less if this place was safe.

"Lindsay? Sam? Is that you?" mom asked from another room.

Sam looked over at me, "How did she get home so fast?" he whispered.

"Yeah, mom...it's us," I hollered back.

"You made it just in time. Dinner just got done cooking." Dinner? I looked over at Sam, more confused than ever. He looked exactly how I felt. It was rare for mom to be home for dinner, much less cook it. Sam left his doll on the couch as I lead the way where mom was, which was in the kitchen. Mom just got the turkey out of the oven. It smelt good! "You two better go wash up. Dinner will be ready when you two are," mom set the turkey on the stove. She turned around, and I realized she wasn't our mother. She looked exactly like our mother, she even had on the same clothes mom had on this morning, but where her eyes were suppose to be, two black buttons were at their place.

I pushed Sam behind me. "Who...who are you?"

"I'm your other mother, dear."

"Our what?"

"Your other mother." She saw the confusion on my face. "Don't be surprised. Everyone has one."

"Are you like a fairy godmother?" Sam asked, pocking his head out from behind me.

She smiled. I couldn't tell if she looked nicer or scarier when she smiled. "Something like that. Now go and get clean up."

Sam and I hurried upstairs. Both of us needed to talk about what just happened. We found the bathroom without a problem. Not only did everything look like our real house, but every room was in the exactly place as well. Like we were in the same house, just different moms.

As soon as I shut the door, Sam asked "What is this place?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

Sam started to wash his hands. "Do you think we can trust our other mother?"

"I don't know, but I guess we will know later on tonight. I just can't shake the feeling that something is off."

"Like the same feeling you got when we met Aaron?" he sounded scared.

"No," I started to wash my hands because Sam went to dry his. "It's nothing like that, but that is what scares me. I can't describe what I feel. I feel confused by how close this place is to our real home and why do we have a other mother? Why hasn't she came before? I have no answer to any of my questions, so none of this makes sense to me."

"I don't know any answers either. Should we ask her? She might know what's going on."

I shook my head. "It would be best if we both just see what she does for a while. We don't want to make her angry. We don't know what she will do then." Sam nodded his head. With our new plan in motion, we both left to go downstairs to eat, but before we step down the stairs, I whispered, "Remember, we don't know if we can trust her yet." He nodded, and I felt his hand slipped into mine. Then something caught my eye. We were in such a hurry to get somewhere to talk in private, that we ran past the pictures on the wall. Now we got to look at them, and something big was missing...or someone, Aaron. "Look at this," I called Sam's attention over. It was suppose to be the picture from their wedding. The same picture Aaron destroy yesterday, and I clean today. Aaron was no where to be seen, and our mom was replace with our other mother. I could tell from the button eyes.

"But where's-" Sam asked.

"Dinnertime," mom announced.

We both left with questions in our minds. Other mother had all the food set up in the dinning room. She was already sitting at the head of the table. Two plates were already set at both sides of her. Sam got the closest seat while I got on the father seat. "Go ahead and dig in," she told us smiling.

Sam and I looked at one another, "Aren't we going to wait for Aaron?" I asked her.

"Who's Aaron dear?"

"Aaron, you know the person you married," she still didn't seem to know who I was talking about. "Our stepdad."

She laughed, "Oh you mean my ex-boyfriend, Aaron. I broke up with him because I didn't like the way he was treating you two. He was always rude to Sam and you, and what mother would I be if I kept in him in the picture? Besides, between us three, I never really like him anyways."

"Aaron is gone forever?" I asked just to make sure what I was hearing was true. I didn't want to get too excited until it was confirmed.

"Why yes! He's been gone for years. Why the sudden interest in him?"

I looked over at Sam, and he had a smile on his face. We were both glad about this sudden news. _This place isn't so bad now,_ I thought starting to put food on my plate. "Oh it's nothing. Just was wondering if you are seeing anyone right at this moment."

"On no! Dating would take time from what matters most in my life. I don't have time to anyways, with all the family things we do, like camping, picnics, watch movies, and family game night. There isn't enough time in the day to do all that plus dating."

Sam stopped his fork in mid air, "Just like family game night? Like we use to play?" I knew that was his favorite thing that we used to do when dad was still alive, while my favorite family activity was going on picnics where we would fly kites and see who could come up with the funniest cloud shape. We both missed those time, even though I tried to put those times behind me.

"What else would it be?" other mother asked him. "What game should we play tonight?"

I knew Sam answer before he said it, "Monopoly!"

"That's too long!" I told him. "We need to sleep some time tonight!"

"What else can we play?" Sam asked me.

"What about Uno? That is a quick and easy game."

"Not from what I remember," Sam grumbled into his food.

"It's faster than Monopoly!"

"That is so-" Sam thought about it, "Actually that true."

I laughed at him while going back to eating my food. "You're such a weirdo."

I don't ever remember eating anything that good as the turkey from that night. It was crispy golden brown, and it was still very juicy. The rolls were perfectly cooked. I never saw Sam get seconds on vegetables, but he got seconds on his corn and mashed potatoes.

"Are you both full?" Other mother asked both of us as we pushed our plates away.

"Oh yeah," Sam said patting his stomach. "I couldn't eat another bite."

"Everything was so good! Thank you," I told her. "Should we clean up?"

"Oh no," she said. "The mice will clean everything up. Now you both can go upstairs and get changed, so we can start this game."

"The mice will clean up?" Four little mouse with long tails and dressed in a little red uniform hopped on the table and went over to other mother.

"Yes, the mice take care of the house. They clean up anytime I need them to, plus they can bring anything to you if you need anything. All you have to do is call them."

"So, you have mice for butlers?" I didn't know if that was awesome or just weird.

She laughed, "I never thought of it like that, but yes we do. Are we going to play Uno tonight?"

"We have a problem. We don't have any pajamas. We didn't bring any clothes with us," I state the new problem.

"I got some new clothes for both of you already in your dresser. Come on, I'll show you," she got up from the table, and we followed her upstairs. "Lindsay, here is your room." My other room was where Aaron's study was held in our real home. I open the door to find my perfect room! There was a desk with a lamp and a journal already opened, ready for someone to write in it. There was a bookshelf on the wall closest to the door filled with books that I used to love to read. The windowsill was a seat, so I could write/read and look outside anytime I liked.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" I said.

"You picked it out, dear," she said. "Anyways, your clothes are in your dresser and closet. Pick out whatever you want, and just come downstairs whenever you are ready."

"Yeah, sure," I was still in aw about how better this room was. I didn't even notice other mother shutting the door, or that Sam went with her.

I put on some pajamas that were on top in one of my drawers. I didn't even care about what I was putting on, all I cared about was my very own room. I sat on the window seat, looking at the full moon, thinking of all the stuff that I could write, when someone knock on my door.

"Come in," I called, and Sam peeked his head in.

"Come on! It's time to play Uno with our other mother!"

"Where's your room at?"

"Right where our old room is, but this one is better! There is even a guitar that plays itself!"

"It plays itself? That's cool! You'll have to show me!"

"Maybe after I kick your butt!"

"You're on!" I chased Sam downstairs, both of us laughing from finally having fun. We were in such high spirits, we forgot there was no running in the house. Other mother said nothing about it, all she said was, "It looks like you two are already having fun."

"Yeah, I guess," I said as we both sat on the floor while other mother dealt the cards.

"I see you got my gift," other mother said to Sam.

"What gift?" She shifted her head towards the doll. "You made the doll for me?"

"Yes, I did. Did you like it?"

"Yes, I do," Sam went over and picked up the doll. "Thank you! I love how you got it to look like me."

"I'm glad you like it. Now let's play," she finished dealing the cards, and we all put our cards in order. In no time at all we had two games down, the score was tied. Sam and me both had one game won.

"This is the last game," I wanted to make sure Sam felt the pressure. "Unless other mother wins, it is the final game."

"We will finally know the winner of Uno," Sam said in the same tone as I just did.

"Let's see who the winner is," other mother flipped over the last card, and I quickly went to see what I had in my hands.

The round went by with a lot of skipping, drawing cards, getting down to one card then drawing twenty because your brother messed up your win, you know the usual stuff that happens when family plays Uno. It was all down to one card, in my brother's hand. Other mother kept the color red, but did I want to change it? I looked at my brother, and he looked at me. Keep it! I put down a red card.

"Lindsay, why did you do that because you just burned yourself!" He threw down his seven red card.

"You won?" I was surprise I lost...again!

"Yep, and all because of you!"

I smiled at him and I ruffed his head,"I know! I am the best big sister ever for letting you win!"

"Letting you win? I think I won-" Sam began, but other mother interrupted us. "Okay, you two off to bed! It's getting late."

We all went upstairs to get some sleep. Other mother was about to go into Sam's room to tuck Sam into bed, but before Sam opened his door, he turned asked me, "I know we finally have our own room, but do you think that it will be alright if I sleep with you tonight? Just this once?"

I smiled at him, "Come on."

Sam climbed into bed first then I climbed in after him. Other mother tucked both of us in. "Here I have something for you, Lindsay," she held out a key on a necklace. It was a black shiny key, and the top looked like a button. "Whenever you, or your brother, wants to see me again, you can use this key to unlock the door you use to get here." She put the necklace around my neck. I was too tired to ask how we were going to get back or how the door unlock for us tonight. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was other mother saying, "See you soon."


End file.
